How Credit Scores In Boston Compare To Other U.S. Cities

BOSTON — A new report ranks the average credit scores of about 2,500 U.S. cities, including Boston. WalletHub, the personal finance site, shows that in Massachusetts, wealthier cities like Lexington and Needham scored highest, but cities like Waltham and Cambridge still had a decent showing.

The data was pulled from the credit bureau TransUnion and was dated to September 2019, according to WalletHub. The highest ranked city in Massachusetts was Lexington (No. 10 nationwide) with an average score of 779. Lawrence was the lowest ranked Massachusetts city (No. 2,415) with an average score of 638.

To compare, the lowest ranked cities — like Camden, N.J., and Detroit — had scores in the mid 500s. The average credit score in the U.S. is 703, according to the credit reporting agency Experian.

Here's how Boston and other area cities on the list were ranked:

Newton
Overall rank: 34
Percentile: 99
Average credit score: 769

Brookline*
Overall rank: 158
Percentile: 94
Average credit score: 757

Cambridge
Overall rank: 354
Percentile: 86
Average credit score: 745

Waltham
Overall rank: 512
Percentile: 80
Average credit score: 737

Boston
Overall rank: 729
Percentile: 72
Average credit score: 724

WalletHub also ranked cities in three different categories according to city size. Boston was in the large-size city category and did better than Minneapolis, New York and Austin. Cambridge as ranked in the mid-size category.

*Brookline, Newton and Waltham were all ranked in the "small" city category, although Brookline is a town. Within that comparison, Newton was ranked in the 99th percentile (along with about a dozen other small cities like Edina, MN, Belmont and Reading), and Brookline was ranked in the 93rd percentile and Waltham was ranked 79th.

By way of comparison Lawrence was the Massachusetts city with the lowest ranking in the small city category ranking in the 6th percentile.

You can read the full report on the WalletHub website.

-Patch staff Neal McNamara contributed to this report.